The concept “Store of the Future” involves multiple shopping channels seamlessly integrating online and offline sales channels that create personal, relevant experiences for customers. Retailers are now focused on the total customer experience across all selling environments. The various shopping channels available today include physical stores, websites, online catalogues, social media, mobile apps, POS & payment systems, digital screens, touch screens and tablets.
Some stores which have been traditionally known as brick-and-mortar businesses (with physical presence) also have online shopping sites today. Other businesses have an Internet-only presence, such as online stores, which have no physical presence for shoppers to visit and buy from directly. In today's marketplace, physical stores often compete with online stores. Online stores often offer competitively priced products and allow consumers to compare pricing and availability from merchants located anywhere. Furthermore, online shopping may be conducted from almost anywhere, for example, from a consumer's home or even from within an aisle of a store in which a consumer is viewing a product. Although local merchants having physical stores offer many advantages to consumers (such as first hand inspection of a look and feel of a product, immediate availability of a purchased product and no shipping costs, and face-to-face customer service), local merchants continually work on enhancing the in-store shopping experience to draw consumers into physical stores.